Pocket Island on iOS is the freemium game that isn't

... Isn't actually freemium, that is. From the folks at Wooga Labs, Pocket Island is a new open source HTML5 project inspired by the company's established Facebook game Magic Land. In Pocket Island, you'll be greeted with kingdom building and a quest series ("the king's wishes") brought to you by a talking parrot, and will be allowed to roam freely about the land with only population limits standing in your way.

The top-down perspective allows you to view your Kingdom, which is small at first but grows over time automatically as you increase your Kingdom's population. There are trees and rocks to remove from each new section of your land so that you can populate and expand your Kingdom into these previously untraveled lands, and you'll collect from and supply a series of businesses to keep your progress ever moving forward.

As more an experiment than a true game, this free-to-play experience comes without premium currency or in-app purchases, meaning that all items and abilities are simply unlocked over time with enough dedication to the game. Even then, this is an incredibly simple experience that requires little effort from you. Even the occasional troll invasion can be squashed with a few taps on the screen, with no energy system to worry about either. The only real limitation you have in terms of how long you can play is when you run out of food, as you won't be able to complete some actions without it (you can constantly farm to replenish your supply).

If anything, Pocket Island is an example of the power of HTML5 and can even be looked at as a tech demo for the kinds of games we can expect as HTML5 grows more prominent. Still, if you're looking for an incredibly relaxing, lighthearted way to spend a bit of time, this is one experiment that's actually pretty fun.